Maisie Anderson @ma371 - Tumblr Blog

P2 - Design Thumbs

For my thumbnails, I incorporated my ideas of geometric, modern design into all elements of the package. I played around with different ways to mix geometric shapes and the plant illustrations that I planned to put on the package design as well. I wanted the illustration style of look for the plant images because I felt that complimented and provided a nice balance and contrast to the otherwise modern design. For each different design for the package, I also sketched out ideas of what the rest of the items in the package would look like. I wanted all elements of the package design to be cohesive and look like they fit together, all revolving around the same stylistic theme. I experimented with lots of different ways to tie everything together, including the seed pods, the information booklet, the soil packaging, and the outside stick-on label and handle for the box.

P2 -Prototype

My final prototype is made to 100% scale of what the final package will look like. I carefully measured all pieces of the package, including the two ceramic pots that will need to fit inside so that I knew exactly how large to make the package. I continued with the concept of the package opening in the middle, deconstructing and reconstructing to support my brand’s values of easy access and customizability. As shown in the last image, the left side of the box will hold the soil discs, seed pods, and information booklet, while the right side will hold the ceramic pots and bamboo trays. The entire package is fairly small and compact, as the herb garden set is meant to be easily placed on a windowsill. I cut out paper to resemble the label that seals the package together and the handle on top. From this to-scale prototype, I was then able to take the pieces apart and construct a dieline that would allow for easy construction of the final package.

P2 - Final Roughs

My final rough design consisted of many parts of different thumbnails pieced together. I ended up with a design of a hexagonal package, something modern, geometric, and non-conventional. This package is opened by cracking it open in the middle and folding back the two sides, breaking it into two separate pieces. One half of the package contains the herbs pots and trays, and the other half contains the soil, seeds, and information booklet about caring for the herbs. When the two halves are together, they are sealed with a label that carries over from the front to the back.

This package supports my concept of customizability by the act of breaking apart the shapes, deconstructing and reconstructing the package itself. The designs on the outside packaging include geometric patterns to convey the modern and customizable aspects of my brand, and illustrations of herbs to convey the sustainability as well as give a nice contrast to the bold colors and shapes with the hand-drawn quality of the illustrations.

The soil comes in compressed discs that are kept neatly together with a thin, paper label wrapping around them. The seeds come in hexagonal discs made of biodegradable, plantable packaging. The user simply places both soil and seed discs in the given pot and waters it. This cuts down on both steps and packaging waste.

I also included illustrations of the labels that will be placed on each herb pot to describe which herb it contains, and designed it to easily fit with the rest of my concept through shape and content. The information booklet included tells the user everything they need to know about taking care of their herbs, such as amount of water and sunlight needed. It comes in a foldable, natural paper booklet.

P2 - User Experience Map and Roughs

My user experience map is slightly different than the norm because the majority of consumers will be buying this product online in order to fully take advantage of its biggest benefit, the customizability. The journey map illustrates the user’s journey from seeing the product online to having it delivered to their home and seeing the actual packaging, and finally using the product itself.

For my roughs, I delved further into the idea of modern, geometric packaging. I sketched out several different designs that involves separate pieces and shapes that are put together to create the final package. When taken apart, these shapes are broken up and conveys my concept of customizability, deconstructing and reconstructing different parts of the whole. I also included roughs of other pieces involved apart from the actual outside container of the product. I wanted to visualize every piece, including the packaging for the seeds, the information booklet about how to care for the herbs, and for the label that will come on the plant pots identifying which herb it contains. I have different ideas for each of these pieces, but made sure that each different piece’s design fit my overall concept of my brand, keeping with the modern, geometric shapes.

P2 - Thumbnails

In my thumbnails for my brand’s packaging design, I experimented a lot with shape. I wanted my brand’s unique, modern qualities to be conveyed in a non-conventional way. Besides different shapes, I also played around with the idea of breaking the packaging apart into two or three different shapes that fit together (last page of thumbs), as a way to be unique but also convey the customizable qualities that set my brand and product apart. I imagine the herb garden set to consist of ceramic pots and trays (maybe bamboo trays), sturdy materials that are also sustainable. My package therefore has to also be sturdy but not too heavy or inconvenient, so I am thinking on having a natural, recycled cardboard as the main exterior of the box(es). For any designs that have a strip or something holding the multiple boxes together, I would use a heavier paper, perhaps something natural like a recycled paper if it is sturdy enough to hold the boxes together. In later designs, I wanted to employ a handle for convenient carry as well, and would make that out of a sustainable fabric like organic hemp. I wanted to employ geometric, modern shapes throughout the design of each piece, including the information booklet and seed pods. These items would also be made out of similar materials to the exterior package design (i.e. recycled paper, cardboard).

P2 - Packaging in Target

I found a few good examples of packaging design that I liked in target. I’ve always liked the look of Chameleon cold brew coffee and I think they do a very good job of making the package for each bottle different but feel the same. I also found a few different examples of sustainable packaging of garden kits as well that I felt could inspire mine. I took pictures of where these items were located to show where my product might be placed in a store such as Target. Although my product would mainly be sold on my brand’s website to take full advantage of its customizability features, there may be standard (uncustomizable) kits sold in stores like Target and other home and garden stores.

P2 - Word Listing

P2 - Packaging Inspo

After completing the first project, I took another look at packaging and got a lot more ideas. I want my my packaging design to reflect both the sustainability and modernity of my brand. I like the idea of having some sort of image of the herb/plant that the package contains printed on it. I also want the packaging to employ my color palette, even if its in a very subtle way. These are some examples of home/garden, modern, sustainable packaging that really inspired me and gave me some good ideas for the direction to go with my packaging.

Logo Lockup

In my final digital versions of my logo, I made some changes to the overall design. This mainly involved the type. Originally I had drawn the shapes of the letters by hand, but when I recreated these custom shapes in Illustrator I felt that the type did not look uniform. So instead I typed my brand name with my chosen typeface, Avenir (black), and sliced those letters, rearranging them as I did. I felt like this fit better with my overall design and looked more professional. When I did the color version, I also made some changes to my original color palette. Instead of conventional green colors, I took inspiration from a lot of modern furniture and bauhaus interior design. I instead chose yellow and a deep blue-green. The lighter yellow portions are also outlined with a deeper yellow. I felt like these colors together, which make green, could still reflect the importance of sustainability in my brand while also now conveying the modern style and non-conventionality of my brand.

Refined Roughs

The most crucial values I wanted to convey about my brand in my logo were customizability, sustainability, and modernity. I picked a few different ideations of these concepts from my thumbnails that I wanted to play around with more, wanting especially to experiment with different fonts. I began with different wordmarks before I decided I definitely wanted a combination logo of both type and image. Two of what I thought were stronger concepts of mine were the house design and the plant design with the drop shadow effect. I wanted to further experiment with these two designs in order to make them work for my brand to their best ability. With the house design, in each step I further broke apart the shapes to establish a “customizable” aspect. I also enlarged the center space of the house as well as the plant inside to create a better focal point and make it more visible when shrunken down. For the plant design, I continually played around with different shapes in the actual plant. I changed the design to sit more horizontally on top of the type so as to pull the entire design in a little more centrally without so much white space, and I also changed the sizes of the leaves in the last version to better convey “customizability.” In both my designs, I experimented with different type choices, trying to see what would best tie in with the values of my brand and better pair with the logo itself. I ended up with a blockier typeface that employs breaks in the letters and shapes because I felt it complimented both different designs and more aptly portrayed the modernity and customizability of my brand and logo.

Visual Research - Logo Color Palette

When I envisioned what colors I might use for my logo design, I felt it was mostly obvious that I had natural green colors throughout, whether in the image or the type itself. With a brand that heavily revolves around sustainability, I feel that its crucial to keep those same values apparent in the logo, including the color choices. Another key element I wanted to include in the color palette was cooler, neutral colors that give more of a homey, indoors feel to the audience. I felt that warmer colors would give the logo a more outdoor nature feel, whereas my product and brand are geared toward sustainability at home.

Thumbnails Round 2 - 20 Revised Thumbs

For this next round of refined thumbnails / original roughs, I chose some of the thumbnails I liked more and made changes to them based on feedback from my classmates. I chose modern, simplistic designs that I felt conveyed the message of my brand. From this round of narrowing down thumbnails, I learned a lot about what I want my logo to say about my brand. I want the logo to show the consumer my brand’s value of sustainability, while also conveying the contemporary feel of my brand. For the next round of more refined roughs, I plan to play around more with a few of these designs while making changes to ensure that my logo is original, new and unique to my brand.

Original Thumbnails

While brainstorming for my thumbnails, I took inspiration from my visual research and tried to employ the elements of modernity, simplicity, and eco-friendliness to my designs. I experimented with many different types of logo designs, including pictorial, letter marks, word marks, emblems, combinations of all of them, etc. My favorite of these designs are the simplest ones that express NOVORRA’s devotion to convenience and sustainability in the modern age. I want my final logo to convey the contemporary design of my brand as well as their dedication to sustainability and making a difference in the world.

NOVORRA Brand Story

Sustainability and convenience don’t always go hand in hand. But could we make a bigger difference if they did? NOVORRA works to bring eco-friendliness and ease together with customizability, online access, and at-home delivery. Since 2012, we offer our products nationwide and work to provide our customers with nothing but satisfaction, our greatest value. From indoor herb gardens to organic bath essentials, our tailor-made products are guaranteed to fit your specific needs. We take the stress out of shopping so that our customers can be worry-free while helping us make a difference.

Don’t stress the little things. Think easy. Think green.

Persona

In exploring more of my brand’s target audience, I created a persona to show what kind of person would buy my product. This is an example of college-age student that would want to buy an indoor herb garden because she lives in a dorm. This buyer wants to live a healthy, eco-friendly life, but finds frustrations in the difficulty and costly aspects that are oftentimes associated with living sustainably. Although my brand would cater to a larger audience, this is a specific example of someone who would benefit from my product.

Word Listing

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Maisie Anderson